Riverheads 35 Tazewell 12 Final nm
- Thread starter kwhs95fan
- Start date
After about a quarter and half of solid defense by both teams, the offenses finally got going in the latter stages of the second quarter, before Riverheads turned to one of is favorite weapons in the third quarter to unnerve the visiting Bulldogs and pull away to the win this afternoon. It was the Gladiators' first full game without the services of Triple C and you could tell that it took them a while to adjust to not having his game-breaking ability. Word in the stands is that he might be out another game or two.
RHS took the opening kickoff and with David Austin doing most of the early rushing, it looked as if they would move right in for their first score. But the Tazewell defense put up a great goal-line stand and turned the Big Red away inside the one-yard line after the Gladiators had eaten up more than half the opening stanza. Riverheads' D was then even more impressive as they held Tazewell without a first down until midway through the second quarter.
Tazewell stopped RHS a second time and maybe even a third but finally at the midway point of the second quarter, Luke Bryant swept left end from about 15 yards to put the Pride on the board. Zac Brooks added the first of his five PATs to make it 7-0.
The teams then traded big-time pass plays to record two more scores within an action-packed 2-3 minutes to make the halftime score 14-6. Following the Bryant touchdown, Tazewell's talented sophomore QB Carter Creasy found his favorite receiver, University of Richmond recruit Cassius Harris, down inside the five yard line and the Dogs scored soon thereafter to close the gap to 7-6. They would go for two after each of their TDs but failed on both attempts.
Not to be outdone, on their next possession RHS' Bennett Dunlap fired a perfect strike to Bryant that covered about 55 yards and very much resembled the beauty they had in the LB game. That pass put the Big Red in business at the 13 and a couple of plays later, Bryant swept right end this time for the second RHS score.
Tazewell then handed Riverheads a gift-wrapped third scoring opportunity when they elected to gamble on 4th and 11 while still on their own side of the field. They didn't make it, giving RHS a short field to work with and three timeouts. However, the Gladiators were only able to muster about 20 yards of offense and the teams went to the locker room with the 14-6 score and Tazewell due to receive the second half kickoff.
That is when the Gladiators went to their bag of tricks and exercised the old pooch kick on three third-quarter kickoffs and Tazewell turned out to be ill-prepared for any of them. The Dogs managed to barely cover the first one, coughed up the second one, and came pretty close to losing the third one.
Meanwhile, with Triple C out of action as mentioned earlier, the Big Red turned to Double C, Cody Cash, and he rushed for a pair of second-half scores to put the game out of reach, sandwiched around a Dunlap sneak. Tazewell's final score came after a nice pass to Harris that cut the score at the time to 28-12, which left them mathematically still alive, before Cash's second TD closed out the scoring.
As mentioned in another thread on the 1-A board, fans on both sides grumbled often about the officiating, but as we have been discussing all season, the lack of qualified refs is a statewide problem this season, so it is not likely that we will see a huge improvement in that area.
Tazewell brought a decent size fan section today, as they did back in the spring of 2021 when the teams met for the first of this three-game series. I would assume there will not be any more games played between the two, but you never know........
Best of luck to Mr. Harris as he moves on to his college career, but the well will not be dry for the Dogs as Creasy had an impressive second receiver today, fellow sophomore Logan McDonald, who made some nice catches, so fans can look forward to two more years of that combination.
Riverheads now has a short week to prepare for the long trip Friday night to Westmoreland. As stated earlier, Triple C's return for that one seems unlikely but maybe he can be available when the Big Red returns home for Buffalo Gap on October 7th.
Starting with that one, RHS will wrap up the season with their remaining five district games in a race that has taken some interesting turns already with Waynesboro failing to live up to its pre-season hype, while others such as Fort Defiance and Staunton have exceeded expectations.
So will the Shenandoah race come down to another Cougar/Gladiator showdown when Stuarts Draft invades Greenville on finale night, or will there be a different outcome this year? Stay tuned to find out............
RHS took the opening kickoff and with David Austin doing most of the early rushing, it looked as if they would move right in for their first score. But the Tazewell defense put up a great goal-line stand and turned the Big Red away inside the one-yard line after the Gladiators had eaten up more than half the opening stanza. Riverheads' D was then even more impressive as they held Tazewell without a first down until midway through the second quarter.
Tazewell stopped RHS a second time and maybe even a third but finally at the midway point of the second quarter, Luke Bryant swept left end from about 15 yards to put the Pride on the board. Zac Brooks added the first of his five PATs to make it 7-0.
The teams then traded big-time pass plays to record two more scores within an action-packed 2-3 minutes to make the halftime score 14-6. Following the Bryant touchdown, Tazewell's talented sophomore QB Carter Creasy found his favorite receiver, University of Richmond recruit Cassius Harris, down inside the five yard line and the Dogs scored soon thereafter to close the gap to 7-6. They would go for two after each of their TDs but failed on both attempts.
Not to be outdone, on their next possession RHS' Bennett Dunlap fired a perfect strike to Bryant that covered about 55 yards and very much resembled the beauty they had in the LB game. That pass put the Big Red in business at the 13 and a couple of plays later, Bryant swept right end this time for the second RHS score.
Tazewell then handed Riverheads a gift-wrapped third scoring opportunity when they elected to gamble on 4th and 11 while still on their own side of the field. They didn't make it, giving RHS a short field to work with and three timeouts. However, the Gladiators were only able to muster about 20 yards of offense and the teams went to the locker room with the 14-6 score and Tazewell due to receive the second half kickoff.
That is when the Gladiators went to their bag of tricks and exercised the old pooch kick on three third-quarter kickoffs and Tazewell turned out to be ill-prepared for any of them. The Dogs managed to barely cover the first one, coughed up the second one, and came pretty close to losing the third one.
Meanwhile, with Triple C out of action as mentioned earlier, the Big Red turned to Double C, Cody Cash, and he rushed for a pair of second-half scores to put the game out of reach, sandwiched around a Dunlap sneak. Tazewell's final score came after a nice pass to Harris that cut the score at the time to 28-12, which left them mathematically still alive, before Cash's second TD closed out the scoring.
As mentioned in another thread on the 1-A board, fans on both sides grumbled often about the officiating, but as we have been discussing all season, the lack of qualified refs is a statewide problem this season, so it is not likely that we will see a huge improvement in that area.
Tazewell brought a decent size fan section today, as they did back in the spring of 2021 when the teams met for the first of this three-game series. I would assume there will not be any more games played between the two, but you never know........
Best of luck to Mr. Harris as he moves on to his college career, but the well will not be dry for the Dogs as Creasy had an impressive second receiver today, fellow sophomore Logan McDonald, who made some nice catches, so fans can look forward to two more years of that combination.
Riverheads now has a short week to prepare for the long trip Friday night to Westmoreland. As stated earlier, Triple C's return for that one seems unlikely but maybe he can be available when the Big Red returns home for Buffalo Gap on October 7th.
Starting with that one, RHS will wrap up the season with their remaining five district games in a race that has taken some interesting turns already with Waynesboro failing to live up to its pre-season hype, while others such as Fort Defiance and Staunton have exceeded expectations.
So will the Shenandoah race come down to another Cougar/Gladiator showdown when Stuarts Draft invades Greenville on finale night, or will there be a different outcome this year? Stay tuned to find out............
